"Cancer" is a word; not a sentence! ---1/24/2010

Last time, I told of the bad news we received from Robin's latest scans. The cancer spread quite a bit during Robin's "Vacation" from Chemo, so that more ribs are affected, there is new involvement in her pelvic bones, and worst of all that, "new metastatic disease is seen bilaterally in the chest." Specifically, Robin now has several cancerous nodules in the lower portions of both lungs. This spreading of cancer into "soft" tissues was the news we have been dreading.

Robin and I discussed this new development and decided that we needed to stimulate some thought with her oncologist about the next step to take. So Robin asked for and got an appointment on Wednesday to see the doctor. (We had to go to Texas City, of course, on Wednesday). We took copies of the printed radiologist's reports and a CD with the pictures from the bone scans and CT Scans. We discussed the results with her, and found that we interpreted them correctly. She did not appear to get too worked up about it, saying that she would have been more concerned if this happened while Robin was in Chemo therapy. (I was thinking, "She would be more concerned if it was HER lungs!") She said that the expansion was a trade-off for the surgical recovery. The doctor said that stage 4 cancer requires that we constantly beat it back with chemo, and now that Robin was healthy enough for chemo, we could get back to work. We asked whether one of the chemo treatments from Robin's past might be more effective, or if there was a different course that we should try. The doctor said that Robin's current treatment didn't really get a chance to show whether it was effective, but she would review past treatments (Robin's files are now over a foot thick), and call us later.

The doctor called us back late Thursday afternoon to tell us that she looked over Robin's files and considered other options and she believed that she had a good match for Robin's situation. The "Chemo Cocktail" is called "GemCarbo", from the two two drugs, Gemcitabine and Carboplatin. Normally, each GemCarbo treatment cycle takes 3 weeks. A usual course of treatment consists of 4 to 6 cycles making 3 to 4 months. On the first day of the cycle she will have gemcitabine and carboplatin. A week later she will get gemcitabine only. Then she has a two week break with no treatment before starting another cycle. See "Gemcitabine and GemCarbo" for more info.

Robin had one chemo almost three weeks ago, and was due to get chemo on Tuesday. Since the new regimin will require pre-approval, she may not get chemo on this Tuesday, but probably sometime this week. Generally, Robin is feeling pretty good. She still has the residual cough that follows respiratory infections. Because she seems incapable of coughing it up and out, I imagine she will have this cough for the next few weeks.

Please continue to pray for Robin. Pray for everyone suffering from cancer! We need you more than ever!!!

Our love to all,

                  --- Larry, Robin, & John

REMEMBER:
      "Cancer" is a word; not a sentence!